Stephenye Guerrero, budget analyst team lead in the Army Contracting Command's Expeditionary Contracting Command headquarters, didn't win a prize or receive a bouquet of flowers being the 100th person, but her Dec. 6 arrival signaled another milestone in the transition of ACC's and ECC's headquarters from Fort Belvoir, Va., to Redstone Arsenal, Ala.
Command Sgt. Maj. Tony Baker, ACC command sergeant major, also arrived for duty Dec. 6, becoming ACC's first senior leader to move from Fort Belvoir.
Guerrero moved to the area from Fort Campbell, Ky. After three days in town she said she is excited to be here.
"The area is very nice," she said. "Everybody has been extremely helpful. My former supervisor also works here so I already know somebody."
She applied for the position because it offered her the opportunity to work at the headquarters level and in contingency operations-a first for her after 10 years at installation-level budget operations.
According to Gene Duncan, ACC strategic initiatives director and the senior ACC civilian forward staff member here, hitting the triple-digit mark is a significant achievement.
"We've jumped from about 40 folks to 100 in the space of a couple of months," he said. "We have quite a few more people inbound after the holidays."
He said most of the command's Redstone contingent is new to ACC. "The new people don't have an appreciation for the command's history and mission so we have to make sure they know where they fit into the organization. Having the majority of the team in the ACC compound has helped. We're starting to gel as an organization."
Duncan said ACC's compound has four relocatable structures operational with a fifth scheduled to open in January. The compound will grow to eight relocatable structures by the June-July timeframe, providing office space for approximately 350 people.
Another step in the transition revolves around Army Materiel Command, ACC's higher headquarters, as AMC's headquarters and senior leaders move from Fort Belvoir to Redstone. "I expect us to have more local interaction AMC as its leadership moves here." Duncan also expects Jeff Parsons, ACC executive director, and Carol Lowman, ACC deputy director, to spend more time here.
Less than 20 percent of ACC's Redstone team has moved from Fort Belvoir. Duncan's advice for those still undecided about moving to Huntsville: "Try to come down and look for yourself. Don't rely on what you've heard or word of mouth. Come spend a weekend if you can, take a look at the area and see for yourself. After people come down they usually say, 'Hey, this wasn't what I expected.' You've got to spend a little time here."
Duncan said people who have made the move stress that the quality of life in Huntsville and the surrounding areas is "so much better. They get to spend more time with their families because they are not fighting hours of traffic each day."
Guerrero agrees. "Change is good. Take a chance, be open-minded and very patient. This is a great community and a great opportunity."
ACC is an international business enterprise with more than 5,500 military and civilian employees at more than 115 locations worldwide. In fiscal year 2010, the command awarded more than 210,000 contracts valued at more than $92 billion. This equates to 66 percent of the Army's contract dollars and 17 percent of the total dollars spent on contracts by the entire federal government.
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